Disclaimer: This post is mainly dedicated to the Romanian audience and especially to those involved in the Romanian online business.

I have finally got the chance to participate to the Lucky 7 event organized by Cristi Manafu, a great initiative meant to help new comers promote their projects, learn and get feedback from those with experience in the Romanian online business.

Unfortunately, I have to say that the event has quickly transformed in a blood bath, some of the people invited to share their knowledge effectively trashing the projects. (nb on the other hand both Cristi and Costin have tried to offer some real advise).

Anyways, don't get me wrong. I still believe that those presenting should not be looking for a pat on their back and they need to hear real opinions. Still, I feel there is a long way between expressing your opinion (even if it is a blunt and direct one) and demolishing both the presenter and his idea. It is my belief that constructive and positive advise has a lot of value (via Vlad).

Even so, there is a lot to learn from this experience for those presenting and I think they should continue doing it while others staying in the shadow should try it:

learn how the market players are thinking

learn how important people on the market are behaving and how are they preparing to welcome you

learn how to filter information

last but not least: improve your presentation skills, connect and promote your business

We are still at the beginning and I hope in time we will become more opened, more friendly and, what I think is most important, more helpful.

In case you'd like to hear what I think about the projects that were presented at Lucky 7, drop me a note and I'll follow up with a post. Meanwhile you can read what Mircea wrote about the projects.

Mircea, as far as I understood, Lucky 7's main goal is to give a chance to new comers to present their ideas and get feedback from experts. (according to Cristi: "intalniri pentru promovarea proiectelor online si sesiuni de feedback / brainstorming"), while you are referring to investor pitching.There will always something to learn, but sometimes I think it matters the way you learn it.

That is kind of like the same feedback Andrei Marin got when presented www.fav20.com

They all think in terms of ROI. If they don't see a clear way to make money, it's not good. They have a good point, because you the entrepreneur can make a mistake and go on with a project that will surely fail because you are emotional attached. So you have to take their point of view into consideration.

It is the romanian style of handling a situation. I truly believe is in the romanian genes/culture to be afraid of one's success, or failure for that matter. We have a hard time being constructive and we end up being rude without even realizing it, in most cases. It is hard to change this, but I think is possible.

@Mircea, one's knowledge ("knowing" in general) doesn't have to stand as a set of generally valid facts. People don't live by doing 100% of their actions in correlation with the experience of their peers. One's experience is in general useful to others if it can solve their problems, not yours.

Imagine a football coach talking to his team like this "Watch out, the opponents are going to crush you, it's going to be hard, I went through this! You young unexperienced pricks!" I saw families, teachers and coaches all around the country practicing this attitude. It's wrong in my opinion.

The fact is that one's experience is created by solving his own problems not the problems of others. Great entrepreneurs create businesses centered around solutions to their own problems. Paul Graham gives proven insights around this fact.

Another fact is that a lot of entrepreneurs start projects without even thinking to solve a problem (be it their own or not). These guys might be a little confused, possibly on the wrong path. You can easily find this out by asking "So why did you create this project?" If the answer is: "...uuuhm." they're clearly confused. They either need a bit of help and drop of inspiration to make a shift to a clear direction.

Yet another fact is that many successful entrepreneurs created projects around something that they got excited about. This is contrary to the belief that you always have to solve problems.

People have to choose their own direction. At the end of the day, people don't care if you have experience or not, they just want to build their own. Their experience can be built by facilitating solutions to solving their problems, needs and wants.

That's why it's always useful to ask "How can I help you?" rather than showing off your ability to destroy one's confidence in an early idea.

@Mircea: I'm not sure how the discussion got to me being afraid as it has nothing to do with the opinions in the post.

The main point I've raised was that I don't think that what happened there can be called feedback or brainstorming (as per Lucky 7 goal statement). I've already said that there were things to learn and even encouraged people to participate even if the outcome will not be the promised one.

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